A male nurse has been struck off after shouting at an elderly patient with dementia ‘listen mother*****, you do that again, you die’.
Tudor-Petru was working in Lister Hospital’s Urology Ward on Christmas Eve, 2016, as an agency nurse.
He was asked to care for two patients – one suffering from dementia. This patient spilled liquid on the floor and Tudor-Petru bent over to clear it up before the old man suddenly punched him in the eye.
The nurse ‘thumped’ his hand on the table in front of the patient, crouched down close to his face and told him ‘listen mother*****, you do that again, you die’.
Male nurse Gheorghiu Tudor-Petru has been struck off after shouting at an elderly patient with dementia ‘listen mother*****, you do that again, you die’ on Christmas Eve, 2016
Tudor-Petru, who now works as a lorry driver, then washed his eye, which he said was in pain.
He appeared before a panel at the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) on January 24 for misconduct.
In his defense to the panel, Tudor-Petru said he did not know the patient had been through a partial lobotomy at the time.
He also suggested the patient would not even remember the incident because he had ‘had half a brain removed’.
The NMC report states: ‘The panel was of the view that your reaction in shouting, swearing and threatening a highly vulnerable patient is unacceptable no matter what the provocation.
‘The panel took the view that your conduct did fall seriously short of the conduct and standards expected of a nurse and amounted to misconduct and would be regarded as deplorable by fellow practitioners.’
Tudor-Petru qualified as a nurse in Romania and came to the UK in 2011.
While acknowledging Tudor-Petru had shown remorse and apologized to the victim, the panel considered his regret was ‘overshadowed’ with an ‘element of self-pity’.
Threatening to kill a vulnerable patient, it said, was a ‘serious departure’ from the standards expected of a registered nurse‘.
After the patient spilled liquid on the floor Tudor-Petru bent over to clean it up before the patient hit him
The NMC report stated: ‘The panel particularly noted your response and considered that a threat to kill a patient is also incompatible with continued registration.
The report concludes: ‘The panel considered that this order was necessary to send to the public and the profession a clear message about the standard of behavior required of a registered nurse.’
An 18-month interim suspension order has also been imposed to prevent Tudor-Petru from working as a nurse during any appeal period.
Tudor-Petru also admitted to altering the date of two certificates using Photoshop, one for moving and handling training and another for resuscitation training.
He submitted both certificates to Your World Recruitment Nursing Agency to register himself.
He denied intending to mislead employers that he had completed training on more recently.
The nurse ‘thumped’ his hand on the table in front of the patient, crouched down close to his face and threatened to kill him
Instead, he told the panel he was just ‘bored’ and ‘experimenting’ with Photoshop.
In a written statement, the clinical advisor for the agency told the panel the certificates were falsified and when he called the defendant he became ‘quite aggressive’.
He was told he would not be allowed through the application process and, after persistent communication, the advisor had to email him to ask him not to contact the agency again.
Tudor-Petru did complete a one-day course on December 28, 2016, before submitting his application, which brought all of his training up to date in one certificate.
Mr. Claxton, representing the defendant, said ‘he had nothing to gain from being dishonest whatsoever’ and ‘simply attached the wrong certificates’.
The panel judged it could not prove on balance of probabilities he was intentionally misleading, but noted he had been ‘stupid and foolish’.
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